Show up with CUP!

Early this year, our community partners at the Center for Family Life in Sunset Park called to ask if CUP could work with them on a suddenly urgent need – helping parents at risk of deportation navigate the complicated process of setting up guardianship for their children.

We were humbled by the request. We didn’t have immediate funds to work on this project, but we found a way to do it. Your support made it possible for us to show up when we were needed, especially in moments like this where it’s crucial for people to get the information they need right away.

A year ago we asked you to help us support our community partners at a time of increased fear and violence. We didn’t know what 2017 would bring, but it has been full of requests like the one above.

We’ve shown up—with your help.

We’ve shown up with Hollaback!, supporting their mission to end harassment with a guide to help bystanders safely and effectively intervene to prevent violence against people targeted in public.

We’ve shown up with Bronx Defenders, Youth Represent, Immigrant Defense Project, and Brooklyn Defender Services to create the first projects in our Civil Liberties Toolkit, a long-term, multi-project effort to make a dent in the injustices surrounding our legal system.

We’ve shown up with high school students from Bushwick to the South Bronx to break down the roles young people can play in shaping our communities on issues like displacement, citizenship, and school segregation – at a time when young people’s cynicism is at a high.

We’ve shown up to support communities facing rezonings in their fight for the services and protections they need to stay in a neighborhood and a city that is safe and affordable.

We’ve also worked on CUP as an organization, making concerted efforts to understand where we can do more in our practices and in our projects to explicitly fight for racial justice.

Each project matters to the people in our communities who are better able to navigate a confusing policy, or advocate for their rights, or have a real say in decision-making that matters to them. Together, these projects build towards a greater voice for historically marginalized communities, and a more just society for all of us.

Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to show up every time, with more requests coming in than we could take on. As we launch our next strategic plan in 2018, we are working towards a CUP with more capacity to meet these urgent needs, and investing in sharing our methods so that other communities across the U.S. can access the tools they need.

You have made so much of our work this year possible. We need your support to ensure that our work continues to be available to those whose rights are in danger. Your donation matters.